I was asked an interesting unemployment law question today. The question was: “is an employer who does not contest unemployment benefits for one period of eligibility prevented from later challenging the grounds for unemployment in a subsequent period of eligibility?” For those of you who think the answer is yes, you’re wrong! The case law interpreting the Pennsylvania Unemployment Act is clear: the fact that an employer has not contested unemployment for one period of compensation, does not prevent the employer from attempting to block the unemployment for subsequent unemployment periods.

In the case Oravec v. Unemployment Compensation Board of Review, 171 Pa. Super. 491, 90 A.2d 269 (1952), the Pennsylvania Superior Court held that when an employer did not appeal a decision of the department of labor and industry that a person was eligible for unemployment, that employer was not later prevented from claiming the employee was ineligible for a subsequent period of unemployment. The court held that decision of the department alone was not a resolution of the issue of unemployment eligibility. The court held that only when a referee or the board of appeals has ruled on eligibility has that issue been resolved on the merits. If the referee or the appeals board rules that unemployment is justified and there is no successful appeal by the employer to the Commonwealth or Supreme court,  the employer is bound by the ruling.

Oravec, has not been overturned and thus is still good law.